Background
Born in Lancashire, England, patriarch William Whitfield I moved to Nansemond County, Virginia. [4] In 1770, Whitfield, along with his wife, were killed by the Tuscarora Indians. His son, William Whitfield II purchased Seven Springs, North Carolina from Buckskin Williams, the father of Benjamin Williams, the Governor of North Carolina. [5] During the American Revolutionary War, he served as a captain of the 6th Virginia Regiment, along with his sons, Needham Whitfield and William Whitfield III who were in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge during the revolutionary war. The former was a clerk to Colonel Richard Caswell and the other a private in the Light Horse Cavalry, taking prisoner General McDonald, who was the Commander of the Tories. [6]
Whitfield II was a Dobbs County member to the 1761 and 1762 North Carolina General Assembly held in Wilmington. In 1779 he was a member of Governor Richard Caswell's Council held in New Berne, and a Justice of Peace for Johnston County, North Carolina. He was later a colonel. [7] Whitfield III in turn, was also appointed Justice of the Peace for Dobbs County in 1778. Along with his son, he was a Director and Trustee for designing and building the town of Wanesboro. He had 29 children [8] and forty of his descendants served in the confederate army during the American Civil war. [4]
This included, Nathan Bryan Whitfield, William III's nephew, who became the Counselor of State for the State of North Carolina and was a State Senator. He was later commissioned to Major General rank to succeed his father for the militia. His son, Dr. Bryan Watkins Whitfield, was pardoned by U.S. President Andrew Johnson on September 12, 1865. Gaineswood, which still stands today, was the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama. [9] was designed and built by Whitfield, beginning in 1843 as an open-hall log dwelling. Whitfield is known to have designed most of the house from pattern books by James Stuart, Minard Lafever, Nicholas Revett and others. [10] Much of the work on the house was executed by highly skilled artisan slaves. [11] Whitfield moved from North Carolina to Marengo County, Alabama in 1834. In 1842 Whitfield bought the 480-acre (1.9 km2) property from George Strother Gaines, younger brother of Edmund P. Gaines.
Much of the work on the house was executed by highly skilled artisan slaves. [11] The grounds had been the site of a notable historic event while owned by George Gaines. When Gaines was serving as the US Indian Agent, he is said to have met with the famous chief Pushmataha, of the Choctaw Nation, under an old post oak tree on what would become the Gaineswood estate. They were negotiating the terms of the treaty that would lead to the Choctaw removal to Indian Territory. The tree became known as the Pushmataha Oak. [12]
Whitfield first named the estate Marlmont in 1843; he renamed it Gaineswood in 1856 in honor of Gaines. [10] The Whitfield family tradition maintained that Gaines' original log house was the nucleus around which Whitfield had the mansion built, and that it was located at the present site of the south entrance hall and office. [11] Gen. Whitfield sold the house to his son, Dr. Bryan Watkins Whitfield, in 1861. The second generation of Whitfields maintained Gaineswood as a residence. Mary Foscue Whitfield inherited the nearby Foscue-Whitfield House in 1861 upon her father's death and used that as a residence as well. [10] For later descendants, post Civil War, the lands and plantations were sold.
The family established the Henry Whitfield House in 1639 in the town of Guilford, Connecticut. Historically, it is Connecticut's oldest house. The house, with its massive stone walls, also served as a fort to protect the community Henry Whitfield, for whom the house was built, was a Puritan minister who had come from England to flee religious persecution The house was remodeled in 1868 and opened to the public in 1899 as the first museum of the State of Connecticut, the Henry Whitfield State Museum. The house was restored in 1902–04 and in the 1930s and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997. It was named a State Archaeological Preserve in 2006.
